The Innocents (1961)
The Innocents (1961)
DVD9 | VIDEO_TS | PAL 16:9 (720x576) | 01:35:55 | 7,93 Gb
Audio: English AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps + Commentary track | Subtitles: English SDH
Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller | Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards | USA, UK
DVD9 | VIDEO_TS | PAL 16:9 (720x576) | 01:35:55 | 7,93 Gb
Audio: English AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps + Commentary track | Subtitles: English SDH
Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller | Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards | USA, UK
In this lugubrious but brilliantly realized adaptation of Henry James' classic novella The Turn of the Screw, 19th century British governess Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) arrives at a bleak mansion to take care of Flora (Pamela Franklin) and Miles (Martin Stephens), the wealthy household's two children. Outwardly the children are little darlings, but the governess begins to feel that there's something unwholesome behind those beatific smiles. After several disturbing examples of the children's evil impulses, Miss Giddens gets information from the housekeeper (Megs Jenkins) that suggests that the children may be possessed by malign spirits – or are all these events just the products of Miss Giddens's own imagination? The best and most frightening vignette in The Innocents occurs when the governess casually kisses young Miles, then recoils in horror when she realizes that someone other than Miles has kissed her back.
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The screenplay itself was written by Truman Capote and William Archibald, with additional input from John Mortimer, but credit must also go to director Jack Clayton (Room At The Top) and the great cinematographer (and sometime director) Freddie Francis. Between them, and the aid of the production design team, they filled the Cinemascope widescreen with images of iconic beauty, precisely framing and ensnaring star Deborah Kerr.
The Innocents (1961)
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Kerr plays Miss Giddens, the inexperienced and naive parson's daughter who is given her first governess role by the uncle (Michael Redgrave) of two young orphans. He's entirely uninterested in their care. "I'm a very selfish fellow," he says frankly. "I have no room for them either mentally or emotionally." Giddens is given sole responsibility for the children, a challenge that fills her with pride. This is blended with joy when she arrives at the enormous house, Bly, and meets eight-year-old Flora (Pamela Franklin), the first of her two charges.
The Innocents (1961)
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Flora is lively and charming. "She has her ways," says the amiable, straightforward housekeeper Mrs Grose (Megs Jenkins), somewhat ambiguously. Ambiguity is entirely the order of the day here. If it was present in the book, it's enhanced enormously in the film.
Flora insists "Miles is coming", despite her brother being away at school. Then lo and behold, he's expelled and returns. Like Flora, 10-year-old Miles (Martin Stephens) is smart, wilful and charismatic. Too much so perhaps, and he begins to demonstrate a worryingly precocious sexuality.
The Innocents (1961)
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The film's title refers, with an element of irony, to the children. Walking in Bly's garden, Giddens stops to admire a statue of a putti, when a bug crawls from its mouth. The symbolism is clear: the children aren't all sweetness and light. They're potentially capable of unpleasantness and manipulation. But is their increasingly suspicious behaviour that of children traumatised and emotionally adrift due to the loss of their parents, or is it something darker? Are they in fact in the thrall of, or possibly even possessed by, the ghosts of their former guardian, valet Peter Quint (Peter Wyngarde, aka Jason King), and the previous governess, Miss Jessel (Clytie Jessop). Little by little, Grose reveals the story of the cruel, powerful Quint, and Jessel, who doted on him and was essentially his sexual slave.
The Innocents (1961)
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Giddens begins seeing Quint and Jessel. The encounters leave her perturbed, but she's determined to be rational and work out "what these horrors want". All the while her hysteria is mounting. "I expect I'm tired. I haven't been sleeping well," she says. "Sometimes I can't help imagining things, Mrs Grose." Is she actually imaging the ghosts? She also hints towards her own dark childhood. Is this what's summoning forth "something seductive and whispery and indecent"? Is it her own sexual needs that are responsible for the presence of the "handsome and obscene" Quint?
The Innocents (1961)
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The film is a masterpiece, and a highly influential one (watch it, and then see The Others straight afterwards). With great sophistication, the story walks a line between the supernatural and the mental. Clayton, Francis, the writers, composer Georges Auric and the rest of the team do a remarkable job of creating an atmosphere of mystery and uncertainty, with Giddens adrift in the physical and psychological environments, where roses wilt and the edges of the screen are both hers and our peripheral vision, frequently dark and potentially home to fleeting presences.
Stylish, intelligent and creepy. Cinematic storytelling at its finest, where word and image are perfectly married.
The Innocents (1961)
Special Features:
- Audio commentary by professor Christopher Frayling
- "The Bespoke Overcoat (1955)" short by Jack Clayton (~32 mins)
- "Introduction with Professor Christopher Frayling" featurette (~25 mins)
- Picture gallery ("Production Stills", "Costume Designs", "Publicity")
- US theatrical trailer
The Innocents (1961)
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